


Anything You Want

by Appellosine



Series: Anything You Want [1]
Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: M/M, Other, shapeshifter Bill
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-22
Updated: 2016-07-22
Packaged: 2018-07-26 00:30:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7553173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Appellosine/pseuds/Appellosine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dipper Pines had a rather... peculiar childhood, but some memories stand out more than others.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Anything You Want

It was summer, and he was alone.

He wasn’t really _alone_ , he had his twin sister, but this place was strange, and they were alone.

In some backwoods cabin there wasn’t much to do for him.

He was supposed to be getting fresh air and sunshine, and the climate was supposed to make him better.

Like weather could cure consumption. Like sunshine could free him from disease.

His sister found more things to do than he did. There were others out here. More like her.

They could run around, chase each other, and laugh.

He couldn’t do those things.

But he had books. 

And chores. 

After all, their great uncle was sickly when he was a child.

Or so it had been told.

 

Their uncle grew up into a strong, smart, healthy man through nothing other than mountain air and chopping wood- according to how the stories went.

So would Dipper. He just needed the atmosphere up here.

The heavy atmosphere of teasing from a man almost seventy years old about how a sickly child couldn’t manage property.

It took a long time for _that_  to become an endearing trait to Dipper.

 

Mostly the climate was sticky. Mostly it was hot.

But it was on the clear nights when the winds blew the bugs away that Dipper could open his window.

Looking out into the trees he could imagine all sorts of monsters. Pulled from the pages of the old book he’d been given to entertain himself when he couldn’t chase his sister.

 

He just wanted a friend.

 

The book had told him how to do it.

He didn’t believe it at first.

Just the way everything was written made it seem like every other fairytale he’d ever read. He’d read a lot. But these things came out of the forest. Things from the book. Not even because he’d asked.

Simply because.

They existed there.

 

Over the course of the summer, as the climate or the wood or the sunshine worked it mysterious healing powers, Dipper began to believe the book.

Dipper began to _trust_  the book.

 

Mabel was upstairs. She was with her friends. They were laughing.

The footsteps on the floor above him told him that they were playing games together. 

 

He _just_  wanted a friend.

 

So he asked the book. He looked through the pages and began to read the words out loud.

He hadn’t thought about this before, and now he could only hope he was doing it right.

The whole house shook, and the girls stopped laughing.

For a while, everyone listened to the quiet of the night.

Dipper’s great uncle came to check on him. He said he was fine. A touch of the old man’s rough, warm fingers across his forehead- and he was told that he was chill, and should rest.

His book was taken away.

He’d ask for it back tomorrow, anyway.

 

Alone under a blanket for his chill, Dipper saw it.

Hazily outlined by the gray glow of the pre-dawn sky.

Caught for a moment, Dipper thought it was just the tail end of a waking dream.

He smiled at how strange mathematics were in flesh-bound form.

 

"Who are you?"

It wasn't really a question. Spoken in surprise and horror as the monster crept closer.

He'd only wanted a friend.

"Anyone you want."

What was this.

Just a friend.

Not this _thing_  with too many faces

not   h i m

"Who... are you...."

 

“A n y o n e   y o u   w a n t.”

  
  
  
  


This was his friend.

Right now they looked like two faces of a coin.

Dipper’s hair was soft and brown, and his pale skin was hidden from the mosquitos and the elements by long sleeves and high socks that went up to his knees.

His Friend was sunshine blonde, with chocolate skin, wearing full pants and a sweater made for a man much larger than him.

His Friend knew everything, and was much more interesting than books.

Mabel ran around and chased the other girls, and Dipper held on to his Friend’s shoulders to be carried out into the woods where they’d sit and talk from noon ‘til night.

 

It was so good to have a friend.

 

The climate didn’t heal him, but his motivation grew stronger. 

He did his chores faster. He ate more. He slept less. 

His great uncle was proud of him.

It was easy to forget how his Friend had come to him. Looking into soft honey eyes was too disarming.

But his great uncle always paused for just three seconds too long before letting his Friend in the house.

Every.

Time.

 

Dipper and his Friend would go into town.

They would talk about anything Dipper wanted as they went, and they would greet the townsfolk politely when they were stopped from running in the streets.

“Who’s this, Dipper?”   
“I’m his _friend_.” “He’s my friend!” 

They were proud of each other, and proud to have each other.

 

Everyone always looked at his Friend for just three seconds too long.

 

Except Mabel. 

After all, Dipper’s Friend could do _magic_ , and Mabel would give him a list of a hundred different tricks to do any time she was bored of her own friends.

Sometimes their new Friend would change his faces for them. Sometimes he would be tall, and handsome- just to take Mabel’s breath away.

Dipper had made a good friend. The  _ best _ kind of friend.

 

The end of summer came.

Something cold and autumnal whispered in with the wind now.

It bit through Dipper’s socks. Even his toes in his new leather shoes were cold.

His sister made him wear one of the sweaters she’d knitted for him.

He had a thousand sweaters by now.

This time, he could throw them back at his sister. He could fight with her when she tried to make him wear the one with the stars on it.

The ‘climate’ had strengthened him, everyone said.

  
  
  
  


Dipper grew up into a strong, smart, healthy young man.

His father sent him to higher education. To help run the family accounting business.

He was always good at math.

His secret was that he’d seen it all in a boy with a sweater too big for his body.

That had been his Friend.

His only friend, at that. All the others through the school years faded away. Some moved, a few made tragic passings. But such were the ways of young men and the world.

Now after what seemed so many years he was once again alone.

Bereft of sympathetic company, chased by monsters of loneliness.

He just wanted a friend.

 

He was drawn back to that place.

 

His great uncle had been moved out to be cared for by someone else.

The cabin in the woods looked like an impossible antique. A doll house left out in the forest to rot.

Dipper still walked through it. 

He ran his hands over the railing to the staircase. 

Over the knob to the room he’d spent that summer in.

The dust was thick.

The air was muggy.

It didn’t smell like sickness or death, but it reeked of abandonment.

 

The boy who didn’t want to be alone went outside.

 

He went into the forest. Changed, but somehow still the same.

After all these years.

His feet carried him to the place he’d once gone with a magic Friend to talk about anything he wanted.

In the forest stood a man where Dipper had left a boy.

Now older than him.

Impossibly so. 

But even  _ irrationals _ were numbers so perhaps he shouldn’t have been surprised at all.

It was unmistakeable. It had to be the same. 

 

His Friend from before.

This time, the face was light. 

The hair was dark- accented with an impossible yellow wave at the front. 

This time there was a finely tailored vest with a gold tie and pocket watch chain hanging across a flat stomach.

Crisp white shirt.

Pressed slacks.

A gentleman’s cane to rest those long-fingered hands on.

Dipper stared for about three seconds too long.

 

“Who _are_  you?”

It wasn't really a question. Spoken in surprise and nostalgic wonder.

The answer was the same, though.

“Anyone you want.”

 

This time Dipper was old enough to know there was a monster under that skin.

He’d seen it once in a lazy gray dawn.

A swarming mass of tetrahedrons and too many faces.

He’d only wanted a _f_ _riend_.

Now that he was older, his needs had changed- and were still the same.

This time the thing looked at him with the same grin as a wolf gave its prey.

Hunger flashed in those bright gold eyes.

 

“ _What_ are you?”

This time his throat is dry but his lips are wet.

He’s scared his voice might crack.

This time the the monster prowls closer and touches cold fingers under Dipper’s chin.

This time it isn’t to check his health.

  
" ͣ̌͒̋ͯ̕a̺͖̮̰͊͘n͉̩̪͎͙͖͚͛͑̃͛̀̀̚͡ŷ̸̺͇̺̦̀t̜͙̻̾͗̓̆h̍́ỉ̡͙͓̣̜̬͇̆͑͋ͅn̼̼̰͕̮ͦ̽ͫ͋g̱̦̤͇ͨ̿̐̿ͦ̀ͅ ̼̜̗̘̫̠̪̔y̭̥̾͒o̬͎͇̓̂͛ͤ̓͒̿u̸̯̯̹̦ͤ͂ͩ͒ ̻͓̣͂͒̑͋͝ẉ͙̒ͫ͑̏͐̚a͉̾ͬͦ́n̠̬̼͖͉̙͉̂̊̓ͭ͊̌̎t̼̩̼̮ͭͦ̉͑"


End file.
